Bible Game for Palm Sunday: Whisper and Shout

This Bible game version of “Whisper Down the Lane” will not only help students remember important facts about Easter Week, but it will also provide a great lesson about when to stay quiet and when to shout the truth from the rooftops.

Bible Game for Palm Sunday: Whisper and Shout

Bible Game Object: To have the last student repeat the scripture that the first student passed in Whisper Down the Lane.

Bible Game Introduction
Jesus had the hearts of hundreds of people when he entered Jerusalem. Yet just five days later, when he died on the cross, people were wagging their heads and staring in disgust. What happened?? For one, they listened to gossip. The religious leaders who wanted Jesus dead spread rumors that he was a liar and a bad man, and people just said, “Oh well, it
must be true.” For another, they passed that gossip on without thinking that it might be false!

This game will help us understand how important it is not to gossip and to pass accurate information on. It will keep you and all your friends safe from gossip.

Preparation
None

Instructions
1. Have students sit in a circle.
2. Pick one child to start the game and whisper one of the facts about Easter into the ear of the child sitting next to her. (See Whisper and Shout Game Fact Sheet, included)
3. Have that second child whisper the same in the child’s ear who is to the right of them.
4. Continue step three until each child has had something whispered in their ear.
5. The last child should repeat the Palm Sunday statement aloud.
6. If the facts are still correct, the class wins. If not, then the class loses.
7. Offer prizes to the shouter if he gets it correct.
8. Make sure everyone gets a turn to be the shouter.Closing
– What if you got three outfits for Christmas and word got around that you got thirty? People might wrongly suppose you were spoiled.

– What if there was a small fire in your kitchen, and word got out that your whole house burned down?

– What if you spent a great summer living on your grandfather’s sailboat, and as part of that you told everyone you didn’t sleep in a “house” all summer. What if someone inaccurately started telling people you were “homeless” all summer?

– It’s easy for a good thing to be twisted into a bad thing. We need to listen carefully and be sure to repeat only what is true—unlike the people surrounding Jesus.

Whisper and Shout Bible Game Fact Sheet

Have your students whisper these facts down the lane and see if they can keep the facts straight. It’s okay to get some words wrong, so long as the facts remain the same. Keep open a copy of Matthew 21:1-17, which is the Palm Sunday story. If students get something wrong, you can fill in with the actual scriptures surrounding to help them learn the whole story.

1. Jesus sent two disciples into a village on the Mount of Olives to get a donkey and her colt.
2. Jesus told the two disciples he sent that if anyone asks why they are taking the donkeys to say “The Lord has need of them.”
3. Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the donkey. The Book of Matthew says it was to fulfill a prophecy found in Zechariah 9:9.
4. The first thing people shouted after spreading palm branches in the road is “Hosanna, Son of David!” Hosanna means “to save.”
5. The second thing people shouted is “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” That is a prophecy from Psalm 118.
6. The third thing people shouted was, “Hosanna in the highest heaven!” It means salvation comes from God.
7. When strangers asked, “Who is this?” the people answered, “It is Jesus. A prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”
8. One of the first things Jesus did in Jerusalem was to overturn all the tables in the temple in anger. He said the temple is supposed to be holy, and the money changers had turned it into a “den of robbers.”
9. Jesus healed a lot of blind and lame people in the temple, and children kept saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David.”
10.The chief priests got indignant when the children shouted. Jesus quoted them Psalm 8, verse 2, which talks about how children will shout for him.
You can finish the Bible game by reading the passage and stopping every line or two for the children to fill in the missing fact!

Do you think your students will enjoy this Bible game? Share your thoughts or comments below! And be sure to check out our other Bible games!